The Reluctant Saint

Now a lay-brother at a monastery in 17th century Italy, Giuseppe (Maximillian Schell, title character) with two colleagues gets a quick lecture in humble behavior from pretty-strict Father Raspi (Ricardo Montalban), in producer-director Edward Dmytryk’s well-received box-office flop The Reluctant Saint, 1962.

Franciscan monastery chiefs Fr. Raspi and Giovanni (Ricardo Montalban, Harold Goldblatt) hope to impress the visiting vicar-general (Akim Tamiroff) and not expose their clumsy stable-hand Giuseppe (Maximillian Schell, title character), in Edward Dmytryk’s The Reluctant Saint, 1962.

Cupertino, Apulia, Italy ca. 1620, Francesca (Lea Padovani) hopes to place her mentally challenged son (Maximillian Schell, title character), who’s just lost another job, in a monastery, represented by her brother Giovanni (Harold Goldblatt) and Fr. Raspi (Ricardo Montalban), in The Reluctant Saint, 1962.